I’m posting this as a help guide for any of you who may want to try entering cars shows for the 1st time.

If any of you other car show veterans have any other tips to add to this thread feel free to do so the more we can help the better!

1. Clean and detail any and every part of your car cleanliness is the biggest thing at shows. (No trash, leaves or pine needles in the wiper cowl area, paper, trash on the floor from the value meal you ate on the way to the show).

2. Car shows have two audiences
A. The judge(s) for a while looking at and scoring your car, tell them about your car, anything to help them understand the car’s history, daily driven, custom mods, if you do the mods your self, etc, etc.
B. Then there are people who come to the show the “crowds” of people. To recognize your car and work, take pictures, ask questions, shake hands, or they have a car like yours and want to know how to mod their car the same or information on it.

3. Show your entire car, open up the hood, doors and trunk.

4. Having a mod sheet and car stats is good to have I make one for each show and is it up to date w/what I have I the car at the moment and I use some picture frames and set in front of my car.

5. Put a super thin coat of armoral on the side wall and the tire tread so the tires are nice and black and shiny. (I also spray Armoral up in the fender wells for a nice black look).

6. Take a cleaning supply bag w/any cleaning stuff in it so when you get to the show you have stuff do any last minute wiping down or cleaning.

7. Let your seats back and have them even both driver and passenger. Turn your steering wheel straight.

8. Watch for kids and people wanting to touch and sit in your car.

9. Be polite as possible about questions and be as knowledgeable about your car because you never know what questions you might get asked.

10. Pick a good parking spot and park straight, watch for trees, ant beds etc, etc.

11. Pre-Register if possible so when you get to the show it will be easier and faster to get in and get setup.

12. Try to get to the show early to get a good parking spot and setup.

13. Your ride only can be or look it’s best for that show date if you show off your rides full potential.

14. Whatever your car’s highlights are show them (engine, interior, custom trunk, air bags, paint, etc, etc,(mine is my audio/video setup I play movies all day at shows)

15. Also if you are unsure about your car just go to a show just for the experience and just look around to see what it’s like. You never know unless you try.

16. Win Or Lose keep a good attitude about the experience.

17. Have fun, at the end of the day win or lose, all the hand shakes, mad props, and pictures taken of you ride and the respect you’ve gained is worth more than a trophy all of my trophies are on a trophy case collecting dust (my kids play w/some of them) but my day to day dealings with people is what counts, I keep my attitude humble and I take it all in stride! When you got to a show and see a very nice ride then meet the owner and he/she is rude, or “over” confident about their ride it changes your attitude about the car, on the other hand if you see a very nice ride and the owner is humble and down to earth and calm about answering questions you like and respect the car and the owner even more. I try to be the nice guy w/the nice ride.

18. Walk around the car to check every angle to make sure it looks good from all angles.

I have been showing my Maxima for 5 years and I have over 40 Trophies for my efforts.
(I’m thinking about retiring my Maxima and buying a 99-04 Black Ford Mustang Gt, I sent off my last Maxima payment today woo hoo!).

 

i don't think my car is show quality to bring to a show.

 

They don't look kindly upon cars with kind of scraped up, but touched up, bumpers do they? Dents in the doors? Minor paint imperfections? My car is 9 years old, and looks like it from some angles...but not from others. Is a body kit and nice sub enclosure basically a must? Do they care about how it rides and drives? How fast it is?

 

dings scrapes and touchups will be found and points will be deducted. if you try to hide them, they will find them. they do understand the car is older but chances are the older cars with original paint have a harder time showing well. body kits and enclosures aren't a must if there are different classes but the more items you have the merrier and the better shot you will have at doing well. they don't care about how it rides and drives (they're not going to drive it to score it). speed? yes please...turbocharged or SC'd cars that were NA always get more respect.

 

First time car show tips...

Enter Heavy Chevy Shows, John Deere tractor pull offs and Off-Road Jamboree shows and you will get mad trophies

 

Damn Metallic,

What do you do with all those trophies? Ever think of mounting them on top of your ride? That would go over gooood here in TX!

 

 

cause you don't have enough bling!

 

I disagree with having to show off your whole car. If you have a stock trunk with nothing in it...leave the lid closed.

 

One more pointer, for those that you don't want people trying to touch your car or sitting in it, make something so there is a border between the walking area and your car. Like using a some pvc pipe and some rope to make the border. These kind of things are easy to take apart. So after the show you can just take it apart place them in your trunk and your set to go.

 

That's not necessarily true. A lot of times, the "cleanliness factor" says a LOT about your car, as a whole. So, even if you DON'T have anything in a said area (i.e., trunk), it would be a good idea to clean it up really nice and leave it open. That way, you aren't giving the judges the impression that you're trying to hide anything and you're not giving spectators the impression that you have last week's dirty baby diapers sitting in there.

And as far as dent and stuff is concerned, I think, overall, it's a matter of making a good impression on the judges and having fun doing it. I went full-tilt in my first show last year and my car has more dents and ripples than a woman's fat @$$. I placed 2nd in Import class in an IASCA-sanctioned show and probably would've placed first if not for the 500+ hp Scoobie I was running against. And that was with my car sandwiched between a tricked out Trueno drifter AND a lambo-doored Integra!! (of course, I'm sure it helped that my best friend was there showing t&a with a tank top and shorts - ..)

All-in-all, good post, Will!

 

the judges will ask you to open it anyway so that they can inspect the jambs, hinges etc etc for cleanliness


edit: yeah what nupe said

 

Is there prize money to be won at these shows also? Or is it just trophies?

 

Nice max, and you've not overdone it with gaudy additions haphazardly thrown on

 

mostly just trophies

 

I've been to shows and in shows the past couple years and it is not getting any easier. Many shows depend on the judges. Nopi judges usually look at paint and overall presentation, fancy stereos don't always win it with them but overall car cleaness, paint condition, and cleanliness of stero install, basically a total package. It is getting harder because paint fades, chips, and scratches, it seems like the people with big money are winning now. I started having a bad attitude about this because I thought winning was everything but after losing 5 out of 6 shows I attended this year I realized that winning isn't everything, as long as YOU LOVE YOUR CAR !! and are proud of your work on it (within reason , slapping it together doesn't count obviously). I ts not about trophies but about accomplishment. People will give you props for your accomplishment and it doesn't have to be some official judge either.

 

1. Quality.
2. Custom parts.
3. JDM parts.

The better the fit and finish of your parts. The higher the score.

The more custom parts you have. The more points you will score. Custom parts mean one off parts that you or someone fabricated. Widebody, fiberglass parts, custom turbo and Carbon fiber parts. Custom parts of the same value will score higher than production parts of the same value.

This is where it sucks for us. It's hard to get JDM parts for the maxima because there aren't many importers for Cefiro parts. If you can make your maxima into a Cefiro like SY did. You will score some good points at shows.

 

Yes this is sometimes true. However I don't feel it necessary for you to open up your car if it's bone stock...clean or not. It just might be the level of showing I do though.

I do agree that your car has to be clean, clean, clean. If you think it's clean...go back over it again..lol

If you look at the latest show trends. You're finding more emphasis is going to the "go" part of the vehicles instead of the "show" part. Unless you have something extreme that no one has done before, it's almost getting to be a waste. I've heard through the grape vine that the HIN shows as well as the NOPI shows this year will have a larger portion of the scoring on engine performance. Just a little hint and my 2 cents.

 

one day i must turn my car into I35 front end conversion with big lip.

 

A friend of mine had a cavalier with rims, tint, exhaust, and drop, didn't show his car to Nopi nationals, he basically just parked it and still won 2nd place.

 

Sweet pointers Will.

 

good write up Will

Ant

 

my main reason to go to shows is to make me car known so that i can get sponsors...lol

 

bump...................car show season is here...............

 

Great Post Will!!!!



edit: the more Redlinemax.com stickers you have on your car, the better your chances are of winning!!

 

i wish my car was a show car.! =(

 

hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! good one....

 

Great advice. I dont plan on being in any shows but good advice to know so I can pass it on if needed.

Dont go to the dark side you'd really be doing tune ups much more often. I see that BIG Metter FORD dealership everytime I'm on highway 16 heading to atlanta . . . its evil.